Traffic roundabouts aim for an image turnabout

Jan. 10, 2013
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Cars drive around the roundabout at the intersection of Choptank and Churchtown roads near Middletown, Del., on Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. The Delaware Department of Transportation is trying to update the image of roundabouts while educating the community about their use. (Gannett, Robert Craig/The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal) / Robert Craig, The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal

"We wanted to say, this is what a roundabout is not," said Adam Weiser, traffic-safety program manager for the state's Department of Transportation.

Copyright fees and costs were too high. The project already cost $65,800 in federal transportation dollars to produce a video and related brochure.

"Don't worry," state Transportation Secretary Shailen Bhatt says, smiling at the camera. "Today's roundabouts operate much differently than the old traffic circles."

Bhatt's no Chevy Chase, who played Clark Griswold in the 1985 movie, but officials still hope the eight-minute video helps diffuse public opposition to roundabouts, touting them as a cheaper, safer and environmentally friendlier alternative to traditional intersections.

"We have a lot of transplants from New Jersey in Delaware. When we go talk to people about roundabouts, the first thing we hear is, 'We don't want a Jersey circle,' " Weiser said.

New Jersey's bottlenecked circles often had signals and invited speeding. Vehicles in the circle yielded to entering traffic.

The more compact, modern roundabouts incorporate traffic "calming" measures designed to force drivers to slow down through the intersection. Approaching traffic yields to vehicles in the roundabout.

Studies have found roundabouts reduce crashes by 30% to 50% and serious crashes by 70% to 80%. They also can reduce delays, especially during off-peak hours.

As of 2011, there were more than 2,000 roundabouts in the United States, according to an NPR report on roundabouts that cited Lee Rodegerdts of Kittelson and Associates, a transportation engineering and planning firm.

Still, winning community support for such projects requires persuasion.

"Simply building a roundabout and not doing that education hasn't worked out so well," said Troy Pankratz, senior project engineer for Ourston Roundabout Engineering of Madison, Wis. "The whole operation functions on the concept of yielding, and it's a different type of yielding that people need to adjust to."

Delaware's transportation department began installing modern roundabouts seven years ago. There's at least 15 statewide now, including housing developments, and nine are in the works.

Roundabouts aren't perfect in every situation. It can be difficult to merge in some instances when traffic volume on the main thoroughfare is high.

Elizabeth Tanis changed her mind about the roundabouts after seeing the state's video at a workshop about the first proposed roundabout for Kent County, Del. A roundabout is projected to cut the number of crashes by 71% at the intersection of Willow Grove Road and Moose Lodge/Dundee Road, as opposed to a 43% reduction with a signal.

Police reported 46 crashes at the intersection between 2007 and 2011.

"After listening to everything, I kinda understood that probably it was the best way to go," said Tanis of Moose Lodge Road. "But I'm from New Jersey, and I did not like a lot of those traffic circles."